First blog post as NRM North’s CEO

03 May 2016

This marks my first blog post as NRM North’s CEO, so I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself and give you some insights into my background and vision for the future.

After spending the past 15 years in the United States, it is wonderful to be back in this beautiful state and seeing so many familiar faces. I am enjoying re-connecting with key community members and learning about the fantastic NRM projects happening in our region.I come from working in Reno, Nevada where I was the CEO of the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency, which is a regional government organisation chartered to work with local governments and a range of stakeholders to plan and manage land use, natural resources and infrastructure provision in a coordinated fashion.

In the late 1980s and 90s, I worked in Tasmania in various roles in agriculture and natural resource management. I spent more than 10 years with the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water, and Environment as an Agricultural Economist, Landcare Executive Officer, Manager of the Livestock Development Branch and Director of Industry Development.

I am excited about my new role and life back in Tassie. NRM North is a fantastic organisation with proven results in NRM and passionate staff and I am pleased to be able to lead the organisation into its next phase. On the surface, you won’t see any major changes as our dedicated staff will continue to be out and about supporting the community to manage our natural resources. Internally, I will be working with our Management Committee reviewing our strategic plans and operating structures to continue to improve our business, drive for continued funding, and streamline our approach.

A key focus for the coming year will be river and estuarine management. We launched the inaugural Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) for the Tamar estuary and Esk rivers catchments in December. This is a major milestone for us as this plan provides the first clear picture of what actions we need to take to improve water quality in the region.

We are also moving ahead with our Water Sensitive Urban Design developments to treat stormwater runoff and enhance biodiversity, building on the fantastic work on landholders through property management planning and forging ahead with our attack on invasive species.

I look forward to meeting many new faces, being reacquainted with others and doing all I can to help the community care for our valuable natural resources.